ANAHEIM : Church to Honor Inspiring Organist

Pastors, music directors and congregation members have come and gone over the years, but one staff member at First Presbyterian Church has had the same job since 1945: organist Susan Talevich.

The 71-year-old Anaheim native, who will be honored by the church Sunday, has played for countless worship services, weddings and funerals, filling the Gothic-style structure with the resonant strains from an Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ.

The Rev. Stephen Mather, who leads the 360-member downtown congregation, said Talevich has “weathered all kinds of personalities” during her half-century at the organ console.

“Apart from her musician skills,” Mather said, “I think she has served as a role model for commitment and loyalty that you don’t read about in a book. You see somebody do it, and you decide you want to follow in their footsteps.”

The church’s music director, David Thorsen, said of Talevich: “She’s been one of the finest organists in Orange County for 50 years, both as a church organist and a teacher.

“She’s capable of playing whatever literature is necessary--some of the most demanding pieces as well as some of the lovely, more simple organ selections,” said Thorsen, a former chairman of Cal State Fullerton’s music department.

Talevich, who has a master’s degree in music, studied piano and violin as a child. She became a full-time music instructor in 1946 and went on to teach at Cal State Fullerton, Cypress College and El Camino College. She is now a part-time instructor at Cerritos College and gives private lessons to piano and organ students.

When Talevich began as organist at First Presbyterian in December, 1945, it took her three hours to travel to Anaheim by bus from UCLA, where she was studying music and psychology.

That dedication has been her watchword through the years. She has played despite broken toes, torn ligaments, even the birth of her son, who arrived just hours after Talevich finished playing for Easter Sunday services in 1949.

Talevich said one of her great satisfactions as church organist has been hearing beautiful music sung by choir members over the years and getting acquainted with the congregation.

“There have been a lot of weddings and memorials and events in the lives of the people, the wonderful things and the sad things,” she said. “I’ve been playing to processions of wonderful people who have come to the church and spent a little time or a long time here.”

To celebrate her 50th anniversary at the church, Talevich will give a recital at 3 p.m. Sunday of works by Bach, Handel, Daquin and Gigout. A reception in her honor will follow. The church is at 310 W. Broadway. Information: (714) 535-2176.